


to just let go, my party piece

by armario



Category: Altered Carbon (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 21:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13726656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armario/pseuds/armario
Summary: And then he was overcome by the strangest sensation, to know if he reached out and touched, he could feel Poe, like he was warm and solid and real.





	to just let go, my party piece

 It was all he could do not to collapse on the doorstep.

 He brushed past Poe and Elliot, fixing on a _don't-fuck-with-me_ glare in response to their wide eyes. 

 He wanted it to stop. Just behind his eyes, graphic images on replay of his limbs being hacked off, skin flayed, electrocuted, whatever else that sick bastard deemed necessary- every part of his body still felt raw, but physically it was like it'd never happened. 

 They could look at him and  _not know_ what he'd gone through. And that was something that made him feel hopelessly sorry for himself. 

 Kovacs knew whatever he did next was going to remind him of at least one of Dimi's methods. Showers meant water, and water meant drowning, and he'd had enough of that already. But it also meant being clean, purifying himself of computer generated blood and sweat so he went ahead and switched on the shower.

 He must have stood there for hours, letting the ice cold water sluice over him and bring him back into reality. For a brief second, he mourned Poe's water bill, then laughed hysterically till he thought he'd never stop. 

 He stopped. 

 When he left the shower, mindlessly towelling off his body- _not his body_ , he reminded himself why he'd gotten tortured in the first place- going through the motions like it was a normal day, he found his hotelier, quite unruffled, sitting on his bed as though he belonged there.   
 He thought his first instinct would be to tell him to fuck off. It developed into something more broken and touch-starved.

 Poe had this expression on his face that Kovacs tentatively identified as pity. Almost like he knew. And then he was overcome by the strangest sensation, to know if he reached out and touched, he could feel Poe, like he was warm and solid and real. 

 "It's alright," Poe said gently.

 The AI was choosing to fill a position that he didn't need to, shouldn't want to, but did anyway.   
Kovacs forgot about dignity and whose body this was, he knew he could feel in it and  _God,_ did he need to feel. 

 He sat down right next to Poe, couldn't look him in the eye, let uncertain fingers trail over his shoulder. Felt real weight and warmth under his skin instead of disrupting a hologram and silently thanked him for offering it.

 Wordless, the AI put an arm round his shoulder and drew him close. Distantly, with his vision starting to blur and his throat closing up, Kovacs wondered  _how he knew._

 "You're all right now, Takeshi," soothed Poe. 

 He was; he would be.   



End file.
